Lord, a member of that House. He thought, indeed, that the age of chivalry was gone; the nice difcriminations and feelings of honour were likewife gone, when comments were to be made in that House on a correfpondence obtained in the way in which the one alluded to had come before the public. He was far from fuppofing that the noble Lord to whom the letters were addreffed had any hand in their publication. Had the two noble Lords by whom they were written, and to whom they were addreffed, concurred in profecuting the purloiner of them, his Lordship entertained no doubt that they would have had a good action against him for their value. Any perfon making comments on a private correfpondence thus purloined was of courfe guilty of receiving ftolen goods, and to use an old vulgar adage," the receiver was as bad as the thief." Were fuch publications to be countenanced and commented on as if the reality of their contents was unquestionable, there was an end to every degree of confidence in fociety, and all communication between man and man must ceafe. He did not fuppofe that the noble Lord oppofite to him meant any thing in what he said: he could not, however, fit filent, while the character of an honourable, virtuous, and refpectable nobleman was thus improperly introduced.

Lord Darnley faid, that from the different tone, stile and manner which the noble and learned Lord who had juft fat down had for fome time affumed, he was in hopes that the noble and learned Lord had laid afide that file of virulence, which was better calculated for the other fide of the bar than for the deliberations of that House. His noble friend had expreffed himself in the mildeft poffible terms of the correfpondence in question, milder surely than its contents might have warranted. If he understood the noble and learned Lord, however, the term that a receiver was as bad as a thief, had been applied to his noble friend; language which could in no view be deemed parliamentary, and which was highly unbecoming in that Houfe. He himfelf had expreffed his opinion of the correfpondence alluded to in ftronger terms than thofe ufed by his noble friend. He did not feel inclined to change that opinion. The noble and learned Lord bad faid that he imputed nothing improper to his noble friend for the expreffions which had dropped from him, and he begged the noble and learned Lord to know, that he understood that a fimilar fentiment extended to him. The noble Lord then proceeded to exprefs his fentiments on the bill, of which he totally difapproved, as did Lord Harrowby and the Duke of Montrofe.

The

The Marquis of Sligo was of opinion that the difcuffion which the twin bills, as they were called, had met with, rendered much from him on their fubject unneceflary. His Lordship faid, that much as he was attached to Great Bri-"" tain, and truly folicitous for its defence againft, all its ene mies, if that was the only good he looked to from the prefent measure, he for one would ceafe to press it on their Lordfhips after the doubts that had been expreffed as to its efficiency he would fay to his friends and countrymen that they had done enough in offering their fervices, he would advife them to ftay at home, where they were known, respected, and loved, till a moment of more wisdom, or of more want, rendered their proffered fervices more acceptable. But his great object, his Lordship acknowledged, went much further; he wished to make the people of England and Ireland known' to each other: more acquaintance, mutual returns of kind and friendly offices, intermarriages which would probably refult from it, would bind both nations to each other; it would ftrengthen, cement, and confolidate the union of the empire that had been happily begun, and tend more to make us one people, than all the laws that the wifdom of the world could devife. The union of the Legislatures, which had been devifed in Ireland under the government of a noble Marquis, the only man of the empire perhaps that could have accomplished it, was only one ftep to the object in contemplation from it: the union of fentiment, the union of intereft and of feeling was that which alone would add ftrength and fecurity to the British empire. If any man thought that object was obtained by the uniting of the Legislatures" only, he was a weak and a foolish man, and a very thallow politician. Lord Sligo faid he had facrificed much to the measure; that he had rifked on it his future confideration with his countrymen, and relinquithed for it the most invaluable rights of his pofterity. From the wifdom of the united Parliament he looked for his indemnification by a' full completion of the measure, by which alone it could be beneficial; at prefent it was no more than a rope of land, it would not hold through a struggle, but it would hold tong enough perhaps to deluge both countries in blood before its feparation was effected.

On the question that the bill be read a third time, the Houfe divided, Contents 94, Non Contents 61, Majority in favour of the bill 33,

The bill was then paffed, and the Ioufe adjourned.

HOUSE

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

TUESDAY, APRIL 24.

Benjamin Weal, who had been committed to cuftody for having difobeyed a fummons of the Middlesex Committee, was called to the bar, in order to be discharged.

The Speaker, before ordering him to be discharged, obferved to him, that it was important to make known by the example made of him, that the Houfe had the power to over ake and to punish all those who prefumed to disobey their authority, and that they thought proper to be just to their own privileges; yet, being willing to believe his own statement, that his offence had arifen rather from ignorance than intention, they had humanely confented to his difcharge, and that he was now discharged, on paying his fees.

The Speaker's admonition was ordered to be entered in the journals of the Houfe.

The Irish revenue regulation bill was read a fecond time, and ordered to be committed the next day.

Alfo the Irish priests and deacons age bilt.

Mr. Fofter prefented a petition from the manufacturers and traders in Irish linen against the new modification of the bill on the exportation of that article. To lie on the table. He then gave notice, that he should the next day move for a committee to take the faid petition into confi-, deration.

Mr. Fofter, after adverting to the great delay that had Occurred in bringing forward the public accounts for Ireland, many of which, efpecially that of the funded and of the unfunded debt, were yet wanted, concluded with moving, that the public accounts for Ireland fhould be annually laid before the Houfe, in the fame manner in which the accounts for Great Britain were directed to be annually laid before the Houfe, pursuant to the 42d of the King.

Mr. Corry made no oppofition to the motion, but explained the cause which had occafioned the delay.

Mr. Fofter next proceeded to move for a great number of the public accounts for Ireland; but it was objected to his motions that previous notice had not been given of them. A converfation here enfued between feveral members respecting the practice or the neceffity of giving notices, when i was generally agreed that in more modern times it appeared to be the established practice to give notice of fuch as were not : VOL. II. 1803-4. in

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in the ordinary courfe of bufinefs. Mr. Fofter then gave notice, that he fhould bring forward these motions the next day.

Mr. Lafcelles brought up the report of the Committee appointed to confider of the petition prefented to the House by the woollen manufacturers of Yorkshire.

On the motion that leave be given to bring in a bill purfuant to the prayer of the petition,

Admiral Berkeley declared it to be his intention to oppose its principle, as in direct contradiction with the fpirit of the bill introduced last year on the fame fubject.

Mr. Wilberforce was fenfible that the bill was of the utmost importance, as involving fo large a portion of the manufacturing and commercial interefts of the country. He was not, however, aware of that contradiction which it could appear to involve to the bill of last year, and to which the hon. Admiral had fo pointedly adverted. The hon. Admiral would recollect that its provifions were limited to the county of York.

Leave was then given to bring in the bill, and the report upon which it was grounded was ordered to be printed.

Mr. Wilberforce, previous to bringing up a petition from the Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor, and which petition prayed for parliamentary affiftance, in aid of the fund which they collect for the humane purpose of checking the contagion of putrid fever in the metropolis, took occafion to defcant on the utility of such inftitutions, and on the very beneficial effects they had produced in many of the great manufacturing towns of the kingdom, particularly at Manchefter.

The petition having received the approbation of the Crown, was then brought up, and referred to a Committee.

The eight millions and the one million and an half Exchequer bills' bills were read a fecond time and committed for the next day.

Mr. Calcraft deferred his motion respecting an increased allowance to the volunteers till the next day fe'nnight,

Mr. Kinnaird alfo deferred his motion refpecting fome India papers and accounts.

The annual accounts of the East India Company were laid upon the table.

LOYALTY LOAN.

Mr. Dent then rofe to make his promifed motion refpecting the redress which ought to be given to the holders of the loan, commonly known by the name of the loyalty loan.

The

The hon. Gentleman prefaced his motion with declaring, that he was actuated by no perfonal motives in bringing it forward, and that it was a duty which any Member of the Houfe might feel incumbent on him, with refpect to the return that was made to that patriotic defeription of men, who fo zealously came forward in fupport of the country, at a moment when its wants and diftreffes had accumulated to the highest pitch. The hon. Gentleman here took a furvey of the ftate of Europe at the period when this loan was contracted for, and thewed that both with regard to our external relations, and the internal concerns of the empire, our fituation was most precarious and perilous. Such, however, was the moment when the moft patriotic ardour was difplayed by thofe who came forward with fuch alacrity in fupport of the diftreffes of Government, which, from a variety of causes, were very confiderably aggravated at that moment. In proot of the diftreffes of Government, and of the eagernefs of the loyalty loan fubfcribers to relieve them, the hon. Gentleman read a number of extracts from the correfpondence which at that critical period had taken place between the then Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Directors of the Bank. After animadverting on the manner in which the opinion of the Attorney and Solicitor General had been fet up in direct oppofition to the claims of the fubfcribers, contrary to the spirit and the letter of the contra& between Government and the parties, and the refolution of the prefent Chancellor of the Exchequer to abide by that opinion, in poftponing for a whole year the redrefs to which the fubfcribers upon fo many accounts were entitled, the hon. Gentleman concluded with moving, that the loyalty loan act should be referred to a Committee.

Mr. Vanfittart felt fome difficulty in replying to the hon. Member, becaufe he did not know whether he refted his motion on the law and the principles of good faith, or on the liberality of Parliament. If he came forward on the queftion of law, that had been decided already by the opinion of his learned Friends (the Crown lawyers), an opinion not haftily taken up, but deliberately given, and the courts of law were open for the relief of any perfon who thought himfelf aggrieved. The difference between the opinions of his learned friends, and that of another learned counsel, arofe, in his conception, from a miftatement to the latter of the date of the ratification of the definitive treaty. As to the queftion of liberality, though he refpected fuch a mo

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tive,